<p> When her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto discussed peace with Indira Gandhi in Shimla, his daughter Benazir was busy viewing the Meena Kumari-starrer 'Pakeezah'.<br /><br /></p>.<p>So says M.K. Kaw, a highly respected Indian bureaucrat who was then posted in the Himachal Pradesh capital and who had been assigned to look after the young Benazir Bhutto.<br /><br />Assisting him was Veena Datta, lady officer of the Indian Foreign Service. "She helped me keep Benazir in a good mood," Kaw says in his just released book "An Outsider Everywhere" (Konark Publishers).<br /><br />The year was 1972 when the senior Bhutto travelled to Shimla to sign a peace pact with Indira Gandhi after the breakup of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh following the 1971 India-Pakistan war.<br /><br />Kaw says Benazir wanted to see "Pakeezah", a hugely successful Kamal Amrohi production in which Meena Kumari played the role of a 'tawaif'. The celebrated actress died soon after the movie was made.<br /><br />Kaw says he spoke to Shimla's deputy commissioner and a special show was organized at the Ritz cinema.<br /><br />"There were only three of us in the cinema hall: Benazir, Veena and myself. Benazir enjoyed the film immensely.<br /><br />"I retained the picture of the young and innocent Benazir all through the years of her tumultuous career till she was assassinated."<br /><br />An IAS officer, Kaw served the government for 42 years in various capacities before retiring in 2001.<br /><br />The book is replete with his numerous interesting experiences as well as encounters with leading politicians and officials at various levels all over the country.<br /><br />Kaw says when he was a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Delhi, he realized that station house officers or SHOs, who head police stations in the capital, knew all the criminals in their area.<br /><br />"The general impression I got during my tenure was that the SHOs were aware of all the criminals in their area and all the crimes were flourishing with their knowledge if not their connivance.<br /><br />"Of course there were some rituals that had to be gone through. Once in a while, the police raided the bootleggers and recovered a lot of material. The accused appeared in our court and were duly punished."<br /><br />Referring to the late Satya Sai Baba, whom he considered his guru, Kaw says the holy man once gifted a watch to his (Kaw's) mother -- a watch "unlike any other we had seen.<br />"It did not carry a name or the manufactuer's address. It worked perfectly for one year. Then it stopped.<br /><br />"One day we all went to a watch repair shop in Middle Bazar, Shimla. The Sikh mechanic opened the watch from the back and peered long at the innards with his magnifying eyepiece.<br /><br />Then he gave a sigh and asked: "'Was it really working at any stage? It is a strange watch. There is no machinery at the back!'"</p>
<p> When her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto discussed peace with Indira Gandhi in Shimla, his daughter Benazir was busy viewing the Meena Kumari-starrer 'Pakeezah'.<br /><br /></p>.<p>So says M.K. Kaw, a highly respected Indian bureaucrat who was then posted in the Himachal Pradesh capital and who had been assigned to look after the young Benazir Bhutto.<br /><br />Assisting him was Veena Datta, lady officer of the Indian Foreign Service. "She helped me keep Benazir in a good mood," Kaw says in his just released book "An Outsider Everywhere" (Konark Publishers).<br /><br />The year was 1972 when the senior Bhutto travelled to Shimla to sign a peace pact with Indira Gandhi after the breakup of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh following the 1971 India-Pakistan war.<br /><br />Kaw says Benazir wanted to see "Pakeezah", a hugely successful Kamal Amrohi production in which Meena Kumari played the role of a 'tawaif'. The celebrated actress died soon after the movie was made.<br /><br />Kaw says he spoke to Shimla's deputy commissioner and a special show was organized at the Ritz cinema.<br /><br />"There were only three of us in the cinema hall: Benazir, Veena and myself. Benazir enjoyed the film immensely.<br /><br />"I retained the picture of the young and innocent Benazir all through the years of her tumultuous career till she was assassinated."<br /><br />An IAS officer, Kaw served the government for 42 years in various capacities before retiring in 2001.<br /><br />The book is replete with his numerous interesting experiences as well as encounters with leading politicians and officials at various levels all over the country.<br /><br />Kaw says when he was a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Delhi, he realized that station house officers or SHOs, who head police stations in the capital, knew all the criminals in their area.<br /><br />"The general impression I got during my tenure was that the SHOs were aware of all the criminals in their area and all the crimes were flourishing with their knowledge if not their connivance.<br /><br />"Of course there were some rituals that had to be gone through. Once in a while, the police raided the bootleggers and recovered a lot of material. The accused appeared in our court and were duly punished."<br /><br />Referring to the late Satya Sai Baba, whom he considered his guru, Kaw says the holy man once gifted a watch to his (Kaw's) mother -- a watch "unlike any other we had seen.<br />"It did not carry a name or the manufactuer's address. It worked perfectly for one year. Then it stopped.<br /><br />"One day we all went to a watch repair shop in Middle Bazar, Shimla. The Sikh mechanic opened the watch from the back and peered long at the innards with his magnifying eyepiece.<br /><br />Then he gave a sigh and asked: "'Was it really working at any stage? It is a strange watch. There is no machinery at the back!'"</p>